Curtis frowned. “For whom?”
“For me!”
Curtis’ eyebrows flew up. “Since when do you want to smell good? For a woman, no less?”
Thoroughly embarrassed, Myles stomped away from him and out of the hall, leaving Curtis chuckling at his younger brother who would rather die than give any woman a bit ofhis attention. Now, he evidently wanted to smell good for the unmarried females who would be attending Brython’s feast.
Shaking his head, Curtis went to his wife.
“Let us depart, my love,” he said, taking her by the arm. But then he paused. “As long as you are feeling up to it. I should have asked you that before.”
He was referring to the fact that she’d had a tender belly the past few days, but she shook her head at him. “I feel well enough,” she said. “Not to worry. I am eager to collect my new clothing, so a sour stomach will not stop me.”
He didn’t think so, but he’d felt that he had to ask. “If you say so,” he said. “But let us move quickly. I want to return home before sunset.”
As he pulled her along, Elle grabbed hold of Melusine. “Come along,” she said to her cousin. “Mayhap we can visit the merchant who carries all manner of trade goods and find a lovely scarf for you to match your new gown.”
Melusine turned bright red, eyeing Curtis as they exited the great hall, out into the sunshine of a new morning. “I… I do not need a scarf,” she said. “The new dress was quite enough. I do not need anything more.”
As Curtis began shouting to Douglas and Andrew and Westley, who were helping prepare the horses, Elle turned her attention to her red-faced cousin. She knew why the woman was so reluctant to accept a scarf. It was for the same reason that Elle had refused, for weeks, to let Curtis purchase anything for her until he finally convinced her to relent. For women who had never had proper clothing, or any money to buy it, a new husband with a good deal of wealth was something of a bewilderment. Curtis was more than happy to spend money on his wife and even his wife’s cousin, although they still continued to resist. Melusine did it more than Elle did, but the truth wasthat they were uncomfortable having someone spend money on them.
Curtis was trying his best to change that.
Even eight weeks later, it was still baby steps for them all.
Out in the bailey of Brython, the ladies stood together while Curtis and his men formed the escort. The castle itself had gone through a transformation over the past eight weeks that included repairing walls, fixing the portcullis in the gatehouse, and transforming the keep from something no better than a stable to something that was genuinely warm and comfortable to live in.
Brython had a big, square keep that was six stories tall, including the vault underneath it. There were two storage levels, the sub-level and the ground floor, and then the entry level and the three stories above it that were the living quarters. The first level had two rather large rooms that served as reception rooms, and the next level up had three smaller chambers where Myles, Douglas, Westley, and Andrew slept. The next floor after that had three chambers also, and that was where Melusine slept. The top floor was two chambers again, and both of those were reserved for Curtis and Elle. One chamber was where they slept and the other contained their personal possessions, like clothing and Curtis’ weaponry. There was even a table there with two chairs where they sometimes took in their morning meal, just the two of them.
Elle could reflect honestly on her life before Curtis, but back in the days when they first met, she had made Brython sound as if it meant something to her. Perhaps it had because it was all she had, but the following weeks with Curtis had shown her just how desolate and depressing a place it had been. Even now, as she stood in the bailey with Melusine, she could see how much life at the castle had changed. Everything was well organized,the men seemed busy and content, but most of all, there was no hatred.
That was probably the strangest thing of all. Brython was no longer a place filled with hate. Elle had spent years with men whose only focus in life seemed to be hating the English, but the English soldiers that were now in charge of the castle never made any mention of animosity toward the Welsh. It was a completely different atmosphere, and one that had confused her at first, but one she gradually came to appreciate. Certainly, there was a sense of readiness in case they were attacked, but there wasn’t the tension and the angst that she was so used to.
Strange days, indeed.
Elle wasn’t sure if Curtis’ life had changed that much, but hers certainly had. She was no longer expected to fight, but she had clearly defined duties. She was in charge of the keep, the kitchens, and the kitchen yard, but she really didn’t know much about them. Melusine knew more, but Curtis and his brothers had taken it upon themselves to teach her what they knew about managing a house and hold.
Along with the dance lessons she had so recently been given, there was a time when Curtis had given her lessons on managing the home. Lessons on keeping track of the stores and on keeping track of costs. Luckily, Elle had received an education in mathematics, so she knew how to do her sums, and it was something she enjoyed. She learned very quickly, and soon, lessons moved away from the kitchens and to the keep itself.
That was a little more complex because there were certain protocols when dealing with the keep. For example, unmarried men and unmarried women could never be housed on the same floor. Many castles had separate bachelors’ quarters for unmarried male visitors or unmarried knights, but Brython had no such quarters. That meant the de Lohr brothers were housedin the keep along with Melusine, but none except for Westley were allowed above the first floor.
The only reason Westley was allowed was because he was Curtis’ squire, and also because he had only seen fourteen years and wasn’t considered much of a threat, to his great consternation. Douglas and Andrew and Myles were kept on the first floor, while Asa was assigned a bed with the army. There was a troop house, a small one, that slept about one hundred of the thousand men that Christopher had left behind, and Asa had taken a bed with them. He wasn’t a knight, but he wasn’t exactly close family, either. The rest of the army had tents pitched near the stable yard or slept in the armory or any number of other outbuildings. Curtis was thinking about building a second troop house, but there was so much repair work going on with the walls that he hadn’t yet begun that project.
In all, Brython was a little crowded these days, because there were far more men within the walls than the Welsh ever had, but they worked well together and were very organized thanks to Curtis and his brothers.
These were good days, as far as Elle was concerned, with this day being a pleasant one in a long line of days that had been equally so. She was looking forward to her journey into Rhayader, a town she’d traveled to many times before, but it was different nowadays when Curtis traveled with her. Of course, she knew almost everyone in the village—the merchants, the bakers, the men who ran liveries—because at one time or another, she’d had to deal with them. Elle was very good at bartering, and she was fortunate that she’d never made enemies out of those she did business with. They’d known her to be from Brython Castle or from Tywyl Castle before that, and everyone knew that the castles, and the family of Gwenwynwyn ap Owain, had no real money to speak of. But they also believed Gwenwynwyn’s armieswere fighting a righteous battle against the English, so no one much minded when Elle came to barter for food or material.
But that changed when the English came.
Now, Elle went into town with her head held high because she could pay for the things she needed. She’d even paid the leatherworker extra because there had been times when he gave help to the garrison at Brython without cost, and Elle wasn’t beyond paying him for his generosity now that she had the money. The truth was that she was loved in the village, and as she and Melusine climbed into the cab of the fortified de Lohr carriage, lined with iron like a cage and with wooden sides painted blue and yellow, she could only feel contentment and pride.
Funny how life was sometimes.
The enemy was now her savior.
Curtis rode his big warhorse next to the carriage as they headed out onto the road. When they traveled into town, they usually brought at least fifty men with them, men who rode in front and in back of the escort. They also traveled on the sides of the roads and through the trees to ensure there weren’t any ambushes or outlaws waiting for them.
The weather was turning colder, and the leaves were starting to turn colors as the autumn season was upon them. Dressed in a new green garment she’d got from the seamstress in town several days ago, Elle wore her husband’s cloak because she didn’t have one of her own yet. That was one of the things they were supposed to collect today from the leatherworker, along with the slippers he had worked on for her. With her blonde hair braided and wrapped around the back of her head, she and Melusine were enjoying the weather and the trip.
